cricket
Posted on November 5th, 2023

Sugath Kulatunga

We all love cricket which gave us a place in the sun in the world of cricket and also brought us fame and money. We are saddened at the shocking performance of our team and angry with the cricket administration. For a county which was once a world cup winner and runner up in a few others what happened in India was ignoble and unworthy. I recollect we missed the finals against Australia and India by just two missed catches.

Cricket is a hard game where a batter gets only one chance. It calls for both physical and mental skills and alertness. In the last game our batters were probably mentally unnerved due to the massive score of the Indian team and perhaps with the memories of the Indian pace bowlers in their last encounter with them.

The results of the game would have been different if the two catches given by Kohli and Gill in the early stages of the game were taken.

We have to be happy with the bowling of Madushan who had a 5 for 80 result. He was termed the most valuable player of the match over the best of Indian players.

Cricinfo’s Most Valuable Players of the Match

PLAYER Team TI Runs I. Runs B. Impact Bowl I. Wkts Bo. Impact

Dilshan Madushanka

SL 136.35 5(6) 5 3.25 5/80 7.54 133.1

Shubman Gill

IND 111.71 92(92) 96.21 111.71 – – 0

Shreyas Iyer

IND 100.18 82(56) 86.72 100.18 – – 0

Virat Kohli

IND 95.68 88(94) 96.47 95.68 –

We missed the services of Hasaranga the best leggy we have.

Injury to players, particularly the pace bowlers is a major concern. They should concentrate more on accuracy and swing more than over strain to get speed. The Indian bowlers have succeeded in the ability to move the ball off the seam and using swing, including reverse swing, to move the ball both ways. Vass did the same and rarely had injuries. Two of the older generation players who are the best readers of the game are Aravinda and Murali. Cricket authorities should listen to them than to expensive foreign consultants.

We should not blame the players who must be devastated. They definitely have more potential. They must overcome the mental blocks. It is a wakeup call.

But the cricket administration cannot avoid the responsibility. They burdened the players with an IPL just before the World Cup. This resulted in injury to many players. The Cricket Board is more money minded. Same people form the Board in turn. Its Constitution is flawed and should be overhauled. This is the best time to clear the air with the ICC. No doubt the ICC is misinformed and influenced by the SLCB. We should canvas the Indian Cricket Board to deal with the ICC. They have the best clout with the ICC.

Finally, the Sports Law should be revamped to ensure that sports bodies play a fair game.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

 

 


Copyright © 2025 LankaWeb.com. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Wordpress